Monday, May 15, 2017

Today in History for May 15, 2017

May 15, 1527 – This was the date
Anabaptist Hans Huth predicted the final day of judgment. When that didn't
happen, he postponed it to 1529.

May 15, 1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew
Gosnold.

May 15, 1755 – Laredo, Texas was established by the
Spaniards.

May 15, 1776 – During the American Revolution, the Virginia
Convention instructed its Continental Congress delegation to propose a
resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United
States Declaration of Independence.

May 15, 1781 - Continentals captured Fort Granby from
Loyalists in South Carolina.

May 15, 1812 – Tecumseh attended a council at Mississinaway,
30 miles below Fort Wayne, Ind.

May 15, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette spent the night at the home of Major John Keene, five
miles from Lexington, Ky.

May 15, 1830 – Allen G. Coleman was born in Lowndes County,
Ala. The Allen community in present-day Clarke County, Ala. was named in his
honor in recognition of him being an early settler. The Allen post office was
established in 1900. In 1813, a defensive fort was founded in this area and
named Fort Madison for James Madison (1751-1836), president of the U.S.
(1809-1817). After the Southern Railroad reached this point, the settlement was
called Suggsville Station for the town located 1-1/2 miles to the east. The
name was later changed to Allen. (Place Names in Alabama)

May 15, 1834 – This day’s edition of The Mobile Commercial
Register and Patriot carried the announcement that Charles Boyington had been
taken into custody aboard the steamer James Monroe, was being held prisoner at
Claiborne, Ala. and would be returned promptly to Mobile to answer charges in
connection with the murder of Nathaniel Frost. (Boyington Oak)

May 15, 1861 - United States
interference in the affairs of Central America has a long history. On this day,
the USS Bainbridge was ordered to the Atlantic coast of Panama. This was a
major transshipment point for cargo from the American west coast--including the
gold mines of California. The concern was that this would be very attractive to
Southern privateers, since the Confederate government desperately needed the
gold to buy munitions abroad.

May 15, 1862 - The Battle of
Drewry's Bluff, Virginia took place as a fleet of five Union ironclads,
including the USS Monitor, steamed up the James River towards Richmond. Since
taking the naval base at Norfolk the lower end of the river was undefended. The
ships got within eight miles of the Confederate capital when they came to Fort
Darling, the defensive station on Drewry’s Bluff. Obstructions in the river
slowed them and the cannons blasted them. They retreated. Drewry’s Bluff was
never taken.

May 15, 1862 – The Confederate ship “Alabama” launched as
the “Enrica” at Birkenhead, England, where she had been built in secret.

May 15, 1862 - Brooklyn's Union Grounds opened. It was the
first enclosed baseball park.

May 15, 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill into
law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the
United States Department of Agriculture.

May 15, 1862 – During the Civil
War, the Battle of Proctor Creek, Va. took place and an engagement was fought
at Fort Darling, Va.

May 15, 1862 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Linden, Va.; at Trenton's Bridge and Young's
Cross Roads, N.C.; at Chalk Bluff, Ark.; and near Butler, Mo.

May 15, 1862 – During the Civil
War, Benjamin Butler issued Order Number 28, directing his troops to treat any
woman who insults them as they would a woman "plying her advocation (a
prostitute)." It was this order that led to his title, the Beast of New
Orleans and his picture inside chamber pots.

May 15, 1863 – During the Civil
War, a portion of the Tredegar Iron Works and a nearby flour mill burned.

May 15, 1863 – During the Civil
War, Joe Johnston ordered John Pemberton to break out of Grant's tightening
noose. Pemberton refused the order.

May 15, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Bolton Station and Edwards Station, Miss. With
the capture of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, the day before, General
U.S. Grant moved the main part of his army back out of town to Edward’s
Station, not far from Clinton. This placed his men only about four miles from
the Confederates under General John Pemberton. Meanwhile, back in Jackson,
Grant had left General Sherman with orders to take what the army needed and
destroy anything remaining that might help the Southern military effort.

May 15, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Fort Smith, Ark. and at Big Creek and Centre
Creek, Mo.

May 15, 1864 – During the Civil War, at the Battle of New
Market, Va., students from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington fought
alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the
Shenandoah Valley. Confederate forces were led by John Breckinridge.

May 15, 1864 – During the Civil
War, the Battle of Resaca, Ga. ended. Sherman had his own army by this time and
he was fighting the men of Joseph E. Johnston once again. The battle of Resaca
had actually opened the day before, but overnight Sherman had gotten his entire
force in position and Johnston had received reinforcements from Gen. Polk.

May 15, 1865 – Joseph R. Bass, who was discharged from the
Confederate Army on May 8, reached Evergreen, Ala. Seven months later he would
move to Texas, where he would spend the remainder of his life. He is buried in
Caddo Mills, Texas. (Some sources say he arrived in Evergreen on May 10.)

May 15, 1883 – Former head of Confederate artillery and
president of the University of Alabama Josiah Gorgas passed away in Tuscaloosa
at the age of 64.

May 15, 1886 – Poet Emily Dickinson died at the age of 55 in
Amherst, Mass.

May 15, 1890 – Award-winning short story writer and novelist
Katherine Anne Porter was born in Indian Creek, Texas.

May 15, 1891 – Pope Leo XIII issued an official Roman
Catholic Church encyclical addressing 19th century labor issues
called “Rerum Novarum,” which was Latin for “Of New Things,” considered the
original foundation of Catholic social teaching.

May 15, 1896 – On this Friday at 8 p.m., a “large crowd
congregated in the dramatic hall to witness the closing exercises of Buena
Vista High School. This session of ’95 and ’96 has been successfully taught by
Miss Mamie Boroughs of Pineville. The next day a basket picnic was given at
Snell bridge in her honor.”

May 15, 1905 – Las Vegas was founded when 110 acres, in what
later would become downtown, were auctioned off.

May 15, 1916 - All Confederate veterans were requested to
meet in Monroeville on this Monday. The annual reunion of the Alabama Division
was to be held in Birmingham May 16 to 18. Fare from round trip from Monroe via
Flomaton was to be $5.40.

May 15, 1916 - The Austrian army launched a major offensive operation
against their Italian enemies on the Trentino front, in northern Italy.

May 15, 1917 – D.M. Maxwell, mayor for the Town of Roy,
visited Monroeville on this Tuesday.

May 15, 1926 – In Lovecraftian fiction, Harold Hadley
Copeland, a leading anthropological authority on Pacific cultures as well as
co-founder and president of the Pacific Area Archaeological Association, died
in a San Francisco sanitarium. He first appeared in 1971’s “The Dweller in the
Tomb” by Lin Carter.

May 15, 1926 - Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were
forced down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to
form on the dirigible Norge.

May 15, 1941 – Joe DiMaggio began his record-breaking
56-game hitting streak against the White Sox in Yankee Stadium with a single
and an RBI. The streak ended on July 17.

May 15, 1942 - The Senior Class of Excel High School was
scheduled to present a comedy in three acts, “Feudin’ in the Hills,” on this
Friday night in the Excel High School auditorium. The action in this comedy
revolved around two mountain families who had been feuding for generations. The
romantic element was supplied by Sam Pruitt who was played by Willard White who
lived across the valley from his sweetheart, Edna Mae Martin, which was played
by Miss Marie Brantley.

May 15, 1943 - The big War Bond and Stamp celebration
which was staged in Evergreen, Ala. on this Saturday attracted one of the
largest crowds that had been seen in Evergreen “in many a day.” The event,
which was sponsored by the ladies of the county, was not only an impressive one
but successful as well. At least $35,000 in bonds and stamps were sold. The
county’s quota for that month was $28,200.

May 15, 1944 – S.M. Snowden of Skinnerton, Ala. received a
telegram from Camp Carson, Colo. informing him that his 22-year-old son,
infantryman Robert Lee Snowden, had died from “accidental injuries.” Born on
Jan. 6, 1922, R.L. Snowden died the day before on May 14, 1944. He was a member
of the 414th Infantry, Timber Wolf Division, at the time of his
death. He was buried in the Mount Pleasant Methodist Church Cemetery at
Skinnerton.

May 15, 1948
– Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of
Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invaded Israel thus
starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

May 15, 1952 – Alabama baseball great Virgil Trucks pitched
his first of two no-hitters during the 1952 season, leading the Detroit Tigers
to a 1-0 win over the Washington Senators. He would pitch his second no-hitter
in August, becoming one of just five major league pitchers to throw two
no-hitters in a single season.

May 15, 1952 – The Monroe Journal reported that a list of
six promotions for enlisted personnel in Monroeville’s Battery D of the 108th
AAA National Guard Battalion were released that week. Promoted from corporal to
sergeant were James B. Barnes, Jessie Brooks and Andrew H. Welch. Elevated from
private, first class, to corporal were Glenn H. Bayles, James D. Brown, George
Klepac Jr. and Joseph H. Wood. All promotions were effective as of May 1.

May 15, 1953 – National Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman,
designated hitter and first baseman George Brett was born in Glen Dale, West
Virginia. He would go on to play his entire career (1973-1993) for the Kansas
City Royals. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

May 15, 1954 - Alabama author William March died in New
Orleans, La.

May 15, 1955 – Novelist Michael Garnet “Mike” Stewart, a
native of Vredenburg, was born. He went on to graduate from Wilcox Academy in
Camden, Auburn University and Cumberland Law School. His novels included “Sins
of the Brother” (1999), “Dog Island” (2001), “A Clean Kill” (2002) and “A
Perfect Life” (2004).

May 15, 1958 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Joe B.
Nix Jr., Evergreen attorney, was one of 10 candidates in the second primary
seeking the five places left on the State Democratic Executive Committee from
the Second District. Nix led the ticket in Conecuh County.

May 15, 1958 – The Evergreen Courant reported that
Clarence Smith, whose wife, Ramona, and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Smith,
lived in Evergreen, had recently completed his classes in Minesweeper Automatic
DeGausing at the U.S. Navy Schools Yorktown, Va. Prior to enlisting in the
Navy, Clarence graduated from Evergreen High School and was employed by The
Evergreen Courant.

May 15, 1959 – In the finals of the First District baseball
playoffs, Jackson High School beat Evergreen High School, 5-2, in Jackson, Ala.
Evergreen finished the season with a 9-4 overall record.

May 15, 1959 – The Alabama Highway Department opened bids
for grading and drainage work to be done on the more than 17 miles of
interstate highway between Evergreen and Georgiana. Hyde Construction Co. of
Jackson, Miss. submitted the lowest bids on both the 8.667 miles between
Evergreen and the Conecuh-Butler line ($1,473,435) and the 8.691 miles between
the county line and Georgiana ($1,389,403).

May 15, 1965 - The Canadian Football Players Association was
organized.

May 15, 1966 – After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao
Kỳ of South Vietnam's ruling junta launched a military attack on the forces of
General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command.

May 15, 1967 – National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher John
Smoltz was born in Warren, Mich. He would go on to play for the Atlanta Braves,
the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. He was inducted into the Hall
of Fame in 2015.

May 15, 1967 - The 4th Annual Conecuh County
Market Hog Show was scheduled to be held on this Monday at the Conecuh
Stockyards. Registration was to begin at 5:30 a.m., the show at 8:30 a.m. and
the sale of the show hogs at 1 p.m. Over 100 head of top quality market hogs
were expected to be shown. C.L. Kamplain was show chairman and D.C. Fleming was
advisory chairman.

May 15, 1967 - U.S. forces just
south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) came under heavy fire as Marine positions
between Dong Ha and Con Thien are pounded by North Vietnamese artillery. At the
same time, more than 100 Americans were killed or wounded during heavy fighting
along the DMZ.

May 15, 1967 – Best-selling writer
Laura Hillenbrand was born in Fairfax, Va.

May 15, 1967 - Lieutenant McMillian, a 33-year-old
Monroeville man, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a second-degree murder
charge by a Monroe County Circuit jury on this Monday afternoon. McMillian had
been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of
Mildred Dale, who was killed June 19, 1966 in a café near Monroeville. The
jury, composed of 11 women and one man, deliberated about 45 minutes before
returning the guilty verdict on the reduced charge.

May 15, 1967 – For the first time ever, 17 women were called
for prospective jury duty when the criminal session of circuit court opened in
Monroe County on this Monday. Women were called for the first time for jury
duty at the civil session in April of that year and May 15, 1967 was the first
time for women to be called for criminal court duty in Monroe County.

May 15, 1969 – Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt
Smith was born in Pensacola, Fla. He went on to play for the University of
Florida, the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals. He was inducted into the
Hall of Fame in 2010.

May 15, 1970 – Army Spc. Edward Earl Nisewonger, 21, of
Flomaton, Ala. was killed in action in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. Born on July 15,
1948, he was a member of C Co., 65th Engineer Battalion. He was
buried in Little Escambia Cemetery in Flomaton.

May 15, 1970 - At the White House,
President Richard Nixon presented Sgt. John L. Levitow with the Medal of Honor
for heroic action performed on Feb. 24, 1969, over Long Binh Army Post in South
Vietnam. Then an Airman 1st Class, Levitow was the loadmaster on a Douglas
AC-47 gunship. His aircraft had been supporting several Army units that were
engaged in battle with North Vietnamese troops when an enemy mortar hit the
aircraft’s right wing, exploding in the wing frame. Thousands of pieces of
shrapnel ripped through the plane’s thin skin, wounding four of the crew.
Levitow was struck 40 times in his right side; although bleeding heavily from
these wounds, he threw himself on an activated, smoking magnesium flare,
dragged himself and the flare to the open cargo door, and tossed the flare out
of the aircraft just before it ignited. For saving his fellow crewmembers and
the gunship, Airman Levitow was nominated for the nation’s highest award for
valor in combat. He was one of only two enlisted airmen to win the Medal of
Honor for service in Vietnam and was one of only five enlisted airmen ever to
win the medal, the first since World War II.

May 15, 1972 – Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot during
an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland while campaigning for the Democratic
nomination for president. The assassination attempt by 21-year-old Arthur
Bremer left the Governor paralyzed from the waist down and effectively ended
his chances at the nomination. He campaigned again for president in 1976,
marking his fourth consecutive run for that office.

May 15, 1972 – Former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Douglas
Woolley “Dixie” Parker, who was born at Forest Home in Butler County, Ala.,
passed away in Tuscaloosa at the age of 77. He was buried in Green Pond
Cemetery in Green Pond, Ala.

May 15, 1973 - Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitched
his first no-hitter.

May 15, 1976 – Major League Baseball relief pitcher Tyler
Walker was born in San Francisco, Calif. He went on to play for the New York
Mets, the San Francisco Giants, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Philadelphia Phillies
and the Washington Nationals.

May 15, 1976 – NBA player Torraye Braggs was born in Fresno,
Calif. He went on to play for Xavier University, the Utah Jazz, the Houston
Rockets and the Washington Wizards.

May 15, 1976 – NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was born in Great
Falls, Montana. He went on to play for Washington State, the San Diego Chargers
and the Dallas Cowboys.

May 15, 1982 – The Evergreen Junior League Baseball
Association was scheduled to officially open the 1982 season on this Saturday
at 4 p.m. at the City Park. The teams that year were as follows: Little League
– Braves coached by Mike Bledsoe and sponsored by Conecuh Timber, Inc. and
Whites Home and Auto; Dodgers, coached by Melvin Johnson, sponsored by B&S
Drugs, Inc.; Giants, coached by Tom Jones and sponsored by Presley-Fluker; and
Yankees, coached by Norman Marable and sponsored by Crispy Chick. Minor League
– Mets, coached by Arlton Hudson and sponsored by Phillip Harold’s Carpet;
Orioles, coached by David Thomas and sponsored by Webb’s Car Wash; Red Sox,
coached by Gerald Salter and sponsored by Powell’s Dozier Co. Ponytail League –
Angels, coached by Sylvia Morris and sponsored by Sassers Jewelry and Hardees;
Tomboys, coached by Elaine Colvin and sponsored by Holiday Inn of Evergreen and
Lady Arrow, Inc.; Wildcats, coached by Darwin Covin and sponsored by Aubrey
Padgett’s Garage and Woodmen of the World. T-Ball League – Athletics, coached
by Jerry Evers; Rangers, coached by Mike Faulkner; Tigers, coached by Hillary
Harper.

May 15, 1982 - Excel High School’s Quarterback Club held its
annual sports banquet on this Saturday in the school’s cafeteria. Awards were
given for the top 1981-82 baseball and basketball athletes. The winners and
their awards were: best defensive baseball players, Tom Reed and Hagen Lambert;
best baseball batting average, Mark Crutchfield; Roy Stacey 100-Percenter
Award, Billy House; most runs batted in, Pat Downs; best field goal shooting
and rebounding averages in basketball, Robert Costic, and best free throw-shooting
average, Earl Hollinger.

May 15, 1984 - Archeologists in
Guatemala made a remarkable find - a painted Mayan tomb more than 1,500 years
old that was untouched by looters.

May 15, 1989 – State Treasurer George C. Wallace Jr. was the
featured speaker at the Evergreen Civitan Club’s first ever banquet on this
Monday night at the Quality Inn in Evergreen, Ala.

May 15, 1991 - U.S. President Bush took Queen Elizabeth to
an Oakland A's-Baltimore Orioles game.

May 15, 1992 – “Bob Meeks Day” was scheduled to be
celebrated in Evergreen, Ala. in honor of Evergreen native Bob Meeks, a senior
at Auburn University, who was drafted by the Denver Broncos of the National
Football League. A reception was scheduled for 6 p.m. at Hillcrest High School,
and Auburn head football coach Pat Dye was expected to attend. The event was
originally scheduled for May 1, but had to be reschedule. James Daniel,
offensive line coach of the Auburn Tigers, was also expected to join several
area officials in praising Meeks for his accomplishments on and off the field.
Evergreen Mayor Lee Smith and County Commissioner Freddie Stallworth were to
represent the City of Evergreen and Conecuh County Commission, respectively.
State Representative Jimmy Warren was also expected to represent the office of
Gov. Guy Hunt in presenting a proclamation to Meeks.

The public was invited to attend, and admission was free.
During the day prior to the reception, Meeks planned to travel to area schools,
delivering messages to “stay in school and stay away from drugs.”

May 15, 1992 - Area residents were expected to be able to
take a close-up look at the new $700-million Alabama Pine Pulp Co. (APP) mill
at Claiborne, Ala. during its grand-opening celebration on this Friday. On
Friday, entertainment by school bands was to begin at 11 a.m. Alabama Gov. Guy
Hunt was expected to speak at the noon ceremony, which was also to include
comments by other government officials and George Landegger, chairman of
Parsons & Whittemore Inc. of New York, the first that constructed the mill
and owns and operates it. The site for the new mill was dedicated in October
1989, and the first pulp was produced on Dec. 7, 1991.

May 15, 1993 - The Montreal Expos retired Rusty Staub's No.
10 jersey. It was the first number retired by the team.

May 15, 1993 - The Alamodome opened in San Antonio, Texas.

May 15, 1995 – Evergreen, Ala. Police Chief Thomas W. Booker
was sworn in as the new state chapter president of the National Association of
Chiefs of Police.

May 15, 2001 - A runaway train rolled about 70 miles through
Ohio with no one aboard before a rail employee jumped onto the locomotive and
brought it to a stop.

May 15, 2008 - Sparta Academy’s J.R. Williams signed a
letter of intent on this Thursday to play college football at Huntingdon
College in Montgomery. During a signing ceremony on this Thursday morning in
Sparta’s school library, Williams announced that he would play at defensive
back or wide receiver for the Hawks the next season. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound
Williams, who lived in Evergreen, was a three-year starter at Sparta, where he
was a standout on both sides of the ball, pulling duty at times as wide
receiver, cornerback, quarterback and running back.

May 15, 2010 – Jessica Watson became the youngest person to
sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.

May 15, 2013
– An upsurge in violence in Iraq left more than 389 people dead over three
days.